Siliguri, Jan. 25: In a late-night swoop, police arrested alleged “hawala” operator Ashok Parikh for his “close” links with Dhiren Boro, vice-president of the banned National Democratic Front of Boroland.

“Parikh was picked up from his Mahabirstan residence here,” said Sikkim police chief T.N. Tenzing.

Parikh used his family’s transport business as a front for running the hawala racket. He also owns a petrol pump at Bidhannagar, Tenzing said.

“The Bodo militant leader used Parikh’s hawala channel to transfer money,” Tenzing said. Parikh has been booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, he added. This is the first time that the anti-terror legislation was used in Sikkim.

Parikh was produced in court at Namchi to the south of the state and has been remanded in police custody for 12 days.

The businessman is a prize catch in the wake of the Bodo top gun’s arrest.